right now on "andrea mitchell reports," raining on their parade. bad weather forces the democrats to scrap plans for an outdoor stadium finale tomorrow night. shutting out 65,000 ticket holders. but nothing can dampen the opening night fireworks. first lady michelle obama electrified the delegates, making the case for a second term. >> after so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways i never could have imagined, i have seen first-hand that being president doesn't change who you are. no, it reveals who you are. >> the president and first daughters watched from the white house as michelle obama talked about politics and family. >> at the end of the day, my most important title is still mom in chief.

my daughters are still the heart of my heart and the center of my world. >> and the keynoter, san antonio mayor julian castro, with a personal story representing the future of the democratic party. >> my family's story isn't special. what's special is the america that makes our story possible. my mother fought hard for civil rights so that instead of a mop, i could hold this microphone. >> but the night was also about bare knuckle politics. >> he's a fine fellow and a great salesman, but as governor, he was a lot more interested in having the job than doing the job. >> where mitt romney was willing to turn his back on akron, dayton and toledo, ohio, the president said i've got your

back. >> if mitt was santa claus, he would fire the reindeer and outsource the elves. >> and a tribute to teddy kennedy, who wrote the book on how to defeat mitt romney in their senate matchup back in 1994. >> i am pro-choice. my opponent is multiple choice. >> tonight, former president bill clinton takes the stage. and while daddy's on stage, julian castro's daughter is the scene stealer on the jumbotron. good day. i'm aundrea mitchell. the first in half a century democratic convention without ted kennedy. in 2008 he left his bed to make the case for president obama and for health care reform in denver. >> for me, this is a season of

hope. new hope for a justice and fair prosperity for the many and not just for the few. new hope. and this is the cause of my life, new hope, that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every american, north, south, east, west, young, old, will have decent quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege. >> joining me now, teddy kennedy's sons, patrick and teddy jr. teddy, well, is the legacy fulfilled by health care? health care really seemed to be embraced by this convention. the democrats took two years trying to explain it. they seemed to capture the voice last night. >> well, it was an emotional moment watching my father's words and listening to the great

impassioned speeches that he's made. i think the president came out and made a promise to my father that he was going to make health care a priority, and you know what, he did just that. and that is why every member of the kennedy family is making sure that this president is re-elected this fall. >> patrick, health care is such a big issue to you. do you feel that they have done enough, because they were awkward in the way they tried to address it but last night, with the stories, the personal stories, did they begin to reach that level? >> well, you're right. they said, tip o'neill had the phrase all politics is local. last night the administration through michelle obama and the other speakers said all politics is personal. because there isn't a family in this country including michelle's father, who had m.s. and still went to work, that isn't worried about the catastrophe of a health care crisis and not only facing an illness but being bankrupt in the process.

thanks to president obama, that is now going to be off the table for families. all they will have to worry about is getting better, not whether they can pay the bills. >> how tough was it for your father to make that decision in a primary to choose barack obama over hillary clinton? we will hear from bill clinton tonight. >> well, he was, you know, hillary and bill clinton were wonderful long-time friends of our father's, but my father thought that barack obama had the magic, the person who was able to connect with the new generation of voters, and it's somebody who he got to know when they were both senators together. so it was rare for him to take that gutsy primary stand, but you know what, the president as i mentioned before, made that promise to my father. we're going to make this a priority. and you know what, a lot of people told him that health care is too complicated, too controversial, but you know what, this president put his marker down and he put all of his political capital on the line and i think health care is

complicated and it's confusing. just remember, we need to do more with the same. not necessarily more with less. every time you try to reform something, guess what, that's somebody else's profit and that's what makes it -- there are so many vested interests that don't want change and that's the thing that we're excited to see finally, there's going to be some momentum in that area. >> looking at the video last night, i was reminded of 1980, of course, the great speech written by bob shrum, you were 18 years old, teddy, and you knew when he lost to jimmy carter that he would not be president, but what was his reaction in terms of his life choice? >> i think at that moment, and probably before that evening, he resolved that he was going to try to be the best united states senator that he possibly could. he knew that he didn't have to be president in order to make a difference, that he could continue to fight and be a voice for the underdog, which was the

story of his life and the lives of his brothers before him. and so the story has been written that through his perseverance, he was able to achieve a monumental library of legislative successes and that will be his legacy, not whether he won or lost the presidency, but the way that he persevered through thick and thin, throughout many administrations, and fighting for the cause of health care which was his signature issue in his life. >> patrick, health care has been a big issue for you. it's personal, it's political. you have recovered, you are recovering, and you visited jesse jackson, jr., the congressman who really disappeared from view and there were lots of mixed messages. he was in mayo, in recovery, and how did you find him and through your talks and counseling? >> well, jesse's facing a physical illness that faces many americans around this country. it's a mental illness, but because mental illnesses are stigmatized, people hide them and they try to not get care if

they need it because they're worried about what people will think of them. we need to change that, and it's ironic because jesse said to me my family has been big on civil rights, patrick, this is a civil rights fight, because the way we treat people with mental illness is we marginalize them. we segregate them. there's not a health care system, there's a health care and then there's a mental health care system so we need to change our attitudes and by changing our attitudes, we'll embrace people who have very real physical illnesses. most of all, our veterans, who by the way, suffering from invisible wounds of war are losing their lives by suicide at record numbers which is an urgent call to all of us to do better, by the way we address the issues of mental health in this country. >> your father would be so proud of you, patrick, and you, teddy, and of baby owen, whom i met memorably last night. four months old, your baby, teddy's youngest grandchild.

thank you very much. >> thanks for having us. still ahead, chicago mayor rahm emanuel, former white house domestic policy advisor and former kennedy aide, melody barnes, congressman jim clyburn and kal penn. and the daily fix. but first, flashback, 1984. the congressman -- the congresswoman from queens accepts. >> ladies and gentlemen of the convention, my name is geraldine ferraro. i stand before you to proclaim tonight america is the land where dreams can come true for all of us. >> this is "andrea mitchell reports" live from charlotte only on msnbc.

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i hear the determination in his voice as he tells me you won't believe what these folks are going through, michelle, it's not right. we've got to keep working to fix this. we've got so much more to do. >> michelle obama getting rave reviews today from democrats and even some republicans. tonight, it's bill clinton's turn. joining me now, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com, mark halperin, senior political analyst for "time" and msnbc and john heilemann, "new york" magazine national affairs editor and msnbc political analyst. both of you of course are the game change boys. well, cillizza, michelle obama, how do you describe that speech?

>> you know what's interesting? i may be a dissenting view. i thought she actually started off and maybe it was on purpose, she actually started off somewhat slowly. she comes out, gets a huge reception as we knew she would. for the first five or ten minutes, people were applauding, no question, but i was thinking to myself i wonder if this is all there is going to be. obviously it wasn't. she really built toward the end of that speech. i thought the last 10 to 12 minutes were absolutely outstanding stuff, stuff that i would say many politicians, we saw a lot of them last night, many politicians who have been in the game for a very long time probably could not deliver that kind of rhetorical gamesmanship and skill. it's a remarkable thing for someone who i know she's been in the public eye and she's the first lady, all of those things, but she is not an elected official, not someone who purposely chose to go into politics -- >> she was reluctant. she actually pulled back the veil a little on her initial reluctance, john heilemann. she talked more last night about

what was her focus when they were grappling with these issues because we knew she didn't jump into it. she didn't want to play in the 2010 midterms as well. this speech last night i thought really melded the personal side and the policy side. the politics and the re-election argument. >> she did a bunch of things ann romney, for all of that speech was a fine speech, but she did a bunch of things ann romney didn't do. one of those things was to show and not just tell, not just assert things about barack obama, assert things about herself, but tell stories. the story of her father, m.s. stricken, struggling to get up in the morning, struggling up and down the stairs, incredibly vivid anecdote that was very moving to people. she also made policy arguments that ann romney never made on behalf of her husband so she spoke directly to women on the question of women having the right to control their own health decisions. those are things that expanded the speech beyond merely being a supportive wife and being even a great performer. i agree with chris, i think her performance skills are

extraordinary and she's not done, even though she gave a great speech in 2008, she's not done that -- comparatively speaking she doesn't do that much of it and she was so natural. you couldn't follow her eyes on the prompter. she was, i mean, really at a level of just technical proficiency at the very highest level of american political performers that we have in america today. >> without being mannered, and also gay rights, an important inclusion. mark? >> she had some things that were very appealing to the left, like talking about gay marriage, making two references to that. and of the president's overall agenda. but she also had some pretty conservative lines in there, too. she had a line about the united states being the greatest country in the world, which sometimes liberals don't say. she talked about military families. i thought, you know, if you take the measures by which we look at speeches, the technical proficiency, how well it's written, how well it's delivered, the dog whistles to different groups, you couldn't see a better speech in terms of how it was written or how she performed.

now, we have to always remember the point of this is to influence voters out in the country. my guess is if there's a convention bounce, it will be due in no small part to the speech she gave along with the big ones we're expecting. >> let me speak briefly. we want to talk about julian castro, whether or not he delivered as a rising star and the outreach to not only texas but to the hispanic community, but also this change of venue tomorrow night and how that will affect their basic reason for doing that was not just the television audience. they were planning to do a registration drive, they were planning to do a get out the vote drive. they were going to have 65,000 ticket holders in line to get in and all those people were going to be approached in very novel ways by campaign volunteers. >> they insist, it's a little hard to check because we're still in the early stages, they insist they will still be able to do a lot of those things. i think the one thing you lose a little bit is the look of it. i went back and watched just because after this happened, i went back and watched the speech at invesco field.

the images from that in 2008 are remarkable. you have 80,000 plus people. it had this bigness to it that this was a landmark monumental moment. that said, i think mark made a point about this is about the people watching it. it's not necessarily about the people here or even the people who might have been in panther stadium. some people watching it at home, if the crowd in here tomorrow night is really amped up and excited, i'm not sure that he loses a huge deal based on moving it. >> the crowd here has really been excited. they were here early watching speeches. this was not the milling around, i'm out to dinner, i'm going to some lobbyist's party. they were here in their seats cheering and crying. >> no question, the enthusiasm level of the people who are here is extraordinarily high. i think the question is given the threat of rain, given the difficult logistics around charlotte with the traffic jams and everything, there was a high risk and i don't know that they fully factored this in, a high risk of if that field, if the stadium, if there had been any

visible empty seats, all it would have taken was 1,000 empty seats and people would have immediately fastened on it and said this is a sign that barack obama's not generating the kind of enthusiasm he did in 2008 and that would have been the narrative coming out of it. i just think they couldn't bear to risk that given all the various things that could have caused that to happen. >> the republicans immediately put out a head line saying it was a lack of enthusiasm, they were afraid of empty seats. i can tell you, they really wanted to do that stadium. they had those seats filled. they had sold more than the tickets. let me ask you about bill clinton before we have to go, because you covered bill clinton, i covered bill clinton. is there any risk in him being out here or is this all a plus added value? >> it's all a plus. sometimes in conventions, we saw this somewhat in tampa, the press will say so and so will overshadow the nominee. he will overshadow the nominee for 24 hours and bill clinton to some extent overshadows everybody but they handled the

walk-up so well, featuring him in an ad, talking about how he's going to campaign in the fall and barack obama, referring to him in a favorable way. i don't think there's anything but upside here. you can anticipate the republican critique of various things based on what bill clinton says, barack obama doesn't really believe it but for the matters who matter in this race, both the base and the swing voters, it's all upside. >> as we speak, hillary clinton is in beijing tangling with another foreign policy. >> it's true, mark points out, remember in the run-up to '08 we were talking about will the clintons be on board. >> that's over. we've got to go. we will see how he does tonight. >> welfare. just remember, what bill clinton can do for barack obama on welfare, something no one else can do. >> completely rebut. thank you all. >> barack obama has a sterling record on welfare reform. >> that's all he has to say. up next, rocking the vote with kal penn. and former white house advisor melody barnes. don't miss msnbc's prime time

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o doeray aheloha peri'sovod e before i close and as i wonder which twitter hash tags you'll start using when i'm done talking, #sexyface, i ask all of you young people to join me. >> last night, the democrats reached out to young people in a big way. kal penn's hash tag sexyface immediately exploded on twitter. joining me now, melody barnes, former director of the white house domestic policy council and one of last night's stars. as well as kal penn, actor. welcome. i guess you're a trained actor, not just in politics. i don't know how you had the guts to get up there and do that. it was great in terms of just the performance. >> well, thank you.

thank you. look, most of the speech was just about sharing stories from young people that we met along the campaign trail, a lot of the successes the president's brought to them and the hard work they've put in in his campaign. it was a lot of fun. the crowd was super fired up. #sexyface was a last second add. i had no idea it was going to actually trend. that was surprising. >> melody, here they were planning on having 65,000 ticketed people and one of the things they did was they had 6,000 people volunteer nine hours of work for the campaign just to get one ticket. you've got 65,000 disappointed people, understandably, it is thunder and lightning. so how do they regroup and recapture the opportunity to register voters and get out the vote? >> right. i think the president is equally as disappointed. he loves being surrounded by that kind of crowd and his supporters but what we're hoping and what we believe is that people will take all of that energy that led them to volunteer and to be here and take it out on to the street to

knock on doors, to register people to vote. ultimately, what people want is the president back in the white house and i think that's what this will convert into. >> how do you communicate to the 65,000 disappointed people who can't get in there? >> i think first of all, people understand. we don't want people to be hurt. we don't want them out in thunder and lightning and the rain. we don't want workers out there trying to set it up. i think they will understand that. that's just good common sense. we will be reaching out and letting them know that they can take all of that energy and convert it into the president being re-elected. >> we also have our live stream that we're doing -- >> we should point out that once again, they're treating us to a concert rehearsal -- >> free show. why not. >> when kal speaks -- >> that would be amazing if they came with me everywhere i went. >> this is great music. >> it is. >> i know they can hear us. >> we have a live stream thursday night that was supposed to be from the stadium. we are retweaking that. there are 4,000 or 5,000 house parties around the country from folks that were going to join on

demconvention.com and we're doing something a little special for them. we've got videos with interview president biden and a whole bunch of special guests and folks. there's a little more engaging especially for the folks who couldn't make it thursday night. >> now, julian castro and the keynote address, let me see if we've got a little bit of tape from last night to show just the power and the force of this debut performance. >> some people are lucky enough to borrow money from their parents but that shouldn't determine whether you can pursue your dreams, not in america, not here, not in the 21st century. i don't think governor romney meant any harm. i think he's a good guy. he just has no idea how good he's had it. >> as we've got the choir

rehearsing for tonight, what is the future of this young man? >> he is a superstar and we've known that because we've had the opportunity to work with him. the president has worked with mayors and governors of all parties across the country, bipartisanship does exist outside of washington, d.c., and he is just a superstar. he showed it. he i think symbolizes what the first lady talked about and what the president has done. he gets where people come from, he understands people's values and what we're doing to try and create security and make sure that everyone can reach the american dream. >> kal, you're a trained actor. we were talking about michelle obama. is she a natural? is she just so comfortable now on the stage that she could handle that kind of moment? >> i think she is exactly who she is, that what you saw was completely genuine. the first lady has always been like that. she and the president both have this really long history of community organizing, working with families, church groups, people of faith, students, and

that's exactly what you saw last night was the first lady really speaking from the heart, talking about her husband, talking about the incredible people she's met along the way, the work that she and dr. biden have done with the troops. it got me teary-eyed. i think the first lady got inspired because of the stories she was relating. >> the stakes for bill clinton coming out tonight, you went through the campaign, you know just how bitter it was against the clintons. this is a coming together where bill clinton is really going to be validating barack obama on welfare reform and some of the other issues. >> absolutely. and we are so excited. i know i can't wait to hear what president clinton has to say tonight, and in part, you're right, he's going to validate him. he's done it before. he's talked about the president's courage and his leadership when it comes to osama bin laden and taking that on, but also on the economy, the issue that everyone cares about, and a president that presided over a booming economy will say this president is doing exactly the right thing to create

security for all americans and grow the middle class. >> melody barnes, thank you so much. >> pleasure. >> kal penn, let's go out with a little of the gospel choir here. we have a lot more to come. a lot more music and also, chicago mayor and former obama chief of staff, rahm emanuel. south carolina congressman jim clyburn and from "will and grace" fame, actor eric mccormick. first, 1980, teddy's dream. >> the work goes on. the cause endures. the hope still lives and the dream shall never die. at purina one, we believe small things can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. we discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. it's just one way

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the obama campaign first struggled to answer the republicans' taunt are you better off today than you were four years ago. assistant democratic leader congressman james clyburn of south carolina joins me now. they then sort of got their voice and figured it out. it was of course memorably the

way ronald reagan was able to defeat jimmy carter. but how does the president answer that question to all of the people by two to one who are telling us they are worried the country is headed in the wrong direction because of persistently high unemployment and the new job numbers will come out on friday, potentially if they're bad, stepping on whatever excitement comes out of the convention. >> well, as any politician, thank you so much for having me, but i'm a little bit reluctant to do hypotheticals but i will say this. i see a significant improvement in the job numbers in my congressional district in south carolina. one county, williamsburg county, where historically number one, number two in unemployment, that number has now dropped. they're now 17. that's a big drop. why, because we have done a lot of infrastructure projects, the kinds of programs that we did in the stimulus bill that people in

south carolina said did no good. we are doing a lot of good, broadband, putting in water lines, 132 miles of water lines, so there is significant improvement in those communities where the programs were allowed to work. but this just say no thing, if you remember, my governor in south carolina didn't want any stimulus money because they wanted to keep the numbers low, keep the numbers bad to have a self-fulfilling prophesy. we won't allow that to happen. >> the change of venue for tomorrow night is of course a disappointment. what more does it mean politically because this was going to be an opportunity to get in person to those 65,000 ticket holders and try to line them up, get them to register, get them to vote. how do you replicate that without having the stadium event? >> well, it means we will have to do some follow-up that we did not plan to do. i think the president has already started planning follow-up especially with those 65,000 people, plus the 19,000

we oversold. i hope he will include them in the number and make sure we follow up with them in a very special innovative sort of way to get them engaged in this campaign. >> the republicans are saying already that the reason why it was canceled is because there was a lack of enthusiasm and there would have been empty seats. >> well, that's kind of interesting because we had 7,000 tickets in south carolina and had a waiting list for another 5,000 so i don't know where they are getting their numbers from but i'm told that we have about 72,000 that we can get into the stadium and there were another 19,000 people on the waiting list. so just because they say it don't make it so. >> jim clyburn, thank you very much. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. gay rights activists are celebrating today after the democrats officially adopted support for same sex marriage in its platform yesterday, a policy embraced by the top speakers last night. >> today in massachusetts, you can marry whomever you love.

>> when it comes to letting people love who they love and marry who they want to marry, mitt romney says no. >> three weeks ago, my buddy kevin's boyfriend was able to watch and graduate from marine corps training. that's change. and we can't turn back now. >> proud americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love. >> joining me now is actor eric mccormick, who played will truman in television's ground-breaking "will and grace" and is now stariring in tnt's "perception." as we speak, michelle obama is guest of honor at a human rights fund-raiser or big event here so she has completely embraced this issue, as has the administration. what does that mean? >> well, it means that we are -- it seems like the other party is

always talking about personal civil liberty. we are the party saying now you can have what you want, everyone can have what they want. everyone is entitled to the same thing. this is a long time coming and i'm really proud of the president and the vice president for bringing this up and making it happen before the election. >> looking back now, "will and grace" ended in 2006, i think? >> yes. >> it was so ground-breaking then. how has the country changed when it comes to this sort of public acceptance of gay marriage? >> well -- >> lesbian rights. gay rights. >> our party here pushing it forward as part of their platform, we have a country that has embraced it certainly on television in ways it wasn't when we started. but we also have a party absolutely against it and i would like to say that it's changed, i would like to say that this -- i know this is a push forward but we have a long way to go to convincing a lot of people in this country that everyone deserves this.

>> of course, the gospel choir has rejoined us. they're rehearsing for tonight. >> this is part of my contract. >> you are accompanied everywhere you go. as an actor, and an activist and someone who is so politically engaged, what about the argument that there's a lack of enthusiasm among youth, among a lot of groups who don't see the change they were promised and are now potentially going to stay home? >> i would say that if the youth stay home, that would be a tragedy. this is your chance to take over. this is your chance to start the next generation. me personally, i'm tired of the glass half empty approach. we need to talk about what has been accomplished, the jobs that have been created. this is a quarterback at the halfway line. all anyone will talk about is there was no touchdown. there will be a touchdown. we got to let the man finish the game. >> the football analogy is apt because tonight of course is the kickoff to the nfl and there will be a lot of people watching

football, but bill clinton is going to be the speaker. what about the sort of connection, the trajectory of the clintons, now obama and looking toward the future of young democrats who we saw debuting here? >> as the campaign keeps talking about, as the president keeps talking about, this is about the future. it's not about the past. and i think it's crucial that young people look at what's been accomplished, take it and run with it. it is actually, they are the new quarterbacks and this president will do it in a way that the other guys simply won't. >> thank you so much. thanks for bringing the choir. see you later. up next, chicago mayor rahm emanuel explains his new role in the obama campaign. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" and our music only on msnbc. here's jessica sanchez practicing for tonight. my name is adam frucci and i'm the editor of splitsider.com. i love new technology,

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coming up at the top of the next hour, on the scene, president obama will arrive in charlotte within the next hour. we'll have the latest on the breaking news regarding that change of venue where the president was set to give his big speech on thursday. there are rumors running around about the location and why it was changed. team obama shoots down those rumors at the top of the hour. >> i think those are unfortunate comments. we had 19,000 people on the wait list in addition to the 65,000 people ready to see the president. >> plus the expectations were high and people on both sides of the aisle say michelle obama delivered. it's part of our "news nation" gut check. see you in about 15. we face a once in a generation moment in american history, and fortunately for all of us, we have a once in a generation president.

>> today, democrats announce that rahm emanuel is going to take on a new assignment, becoming one of the chief fund-raisers for a campaign which is bracing itself for an onslaught of republican super pac dollars. joining me, former white house chief of staff, rahm emanuel. what did it feel like out there, the energy in this room, we have all been describing it, compared even to tampa, it was hot in there. >> it was hot, excited, ready to go as the president would say. i think that michelle gave an incredible speech and i think it was powerful obviously telling folks about why she loves the president, the man she fell in love with, in the same way that this is the person you fell in love with in 2008 who hasn't deviated one iota from that sense of passion, sense of mission of what he's trying to do for the country and why we all have to go to work just as hard as we did in 2008 because if it mattered then, it matters all the more now in 2012. >> given that there is a sense

of a lack of enthusiasm among young people according to all of our polling and some of the other key groups that helped elect barack obama, you need to develop that enthusiasm. it was clear last night reaching out to young people, to hispanics, to women, that is a very forceful message, but is that the mission, to try to say you know, things may not be as good as you would like to see them, you feel the country's going on the wrong track by two to one, but given more time, is this a good enough bumper sticker to get him re-elected? >> first, i don't think that's the bumper sticker. let me make two points, if i can. that is that one is i think reminding people the state of the country. there isn't the kind of sense of trepidation that existed. we have dug out of that what the country faced on january 2009, which was the worst economic recession since the great depression, an auto industry with two weeks before it was collapsed, and an entire financial industry which was

about to collapse and everything related to it. we're not where we were before but we're not where we need to be. where everybody looking for a job can find a job and every middle class family has the ability to own a home, save for their retirement, save for their kids going to college and not be an illness away from bankruptcy. there's work yet to be done. >> let me tell our viewers, we are in the middle of a rehearsal. this is live. there's no glass back there. i don't even have to look at a program to know that that is the sweet tones of wynton marsalis. the only reason we are not standing and saluting, there's no flag out there. we're not violating any norms here. >> you are correct. on both accounts. >> i know him and there's nobody better. again, mr. mayor, let's talk about the fund-raising role. they are going to come at you, the obama team has raised a ton of money. this is going to be the most expensive race ever. but now that the general election is engaged, they are going to have more money to

spend and also, the super pac money is unlimited. >> right. >> so how do you -- >> i happen to think that citizens united was a horrible decision by the supreme court. that said, i believe that if i can be helpful in the next 61 days in this way to help the president level the balance field with all that special interest money on the other side, i'm going to do that because i think the president has been a very good president. i meant what i said in the speech about the decisions he makes versus the decisions mitt romney would make. they have taken clear positions on the auto industry, mitt romney, let detroit go bankrupt. the president, not on my watch. those are clear differences. mitt romney on his position on tax cuts for the most fortunate. the president, we got to make sure kids can afford to go to college. clear differences on policy. and i do believe and what i tried to say last night and this is true for the campaign going forward, there is going to be an unforeseen crisis, challenge or conflict that we can't see, it's

going to come to the white house, it's going to land on that white house desk like a thud. whose values and whose judgment do you want and leadership in that oval office at that desk at that moment in time? a person who said to detroit and was wrong, not just said, if we followed his path, we would have lost a million manufacturing jobs in this country. if we had followed his path on housing, where he said just let it hit bottom, we would be wrong. lot of people are refinancing today because of the decisions the president made so they can hold on to their home. i think at every place, you have a clear distinction, clear choice, different paths with different people, different interests in mind. >> that is the choice message. i should point out that's branford marsalis. you have the brother, but the sound, the dulcet sounds. >> i don't think anybody was going to blame you. but that's good correction. >> for being backwards. >> they'll blame me for saying yes on the first one. >> quick question about the venue change. what is the loss in terms of registration, voter registration, get out the vote,

all of those opportunities that you would have had with 65,000 people lined up to go into the stadium. i know there was a very complicated smart and high tech plan involved. >> look, i saw earlier that this has already been addressed. in the sense of its implications for the implications for the campaign. i think what matters is what he says and ho says it to and what the president says on thursday night. that's what matters. he won't have a speech like mitt romney's. i think it's amazing that after the republican convention, everybody's talking about clint eastwood. >> you don't think you've lost at opportunity? they were geared up for this. >> what matters is the speech and the content for the next four years. this plates will be fill , fill. i have never been to a convention bill clinton, as well as john kerry's where the fire marshall didn't close it down

before it was full. our party's more excited about our nominee, more excited about the battle, and the country's choice ahead of it. >> rahm emanuel, thank you very much. >> you got it. >> many coming up, what political story will make headlines in the next 24 next on a.m. a.m. live from the democratic national convention npg charlotte. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ male announcer ] red lobster's endless shrimp is back... but only for a limited time! try as much as you like, any way you like! like parmesan crusted shrimp just $14.99. i'm ryan isabell and i sea food differently.

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and which political story will make headlines in the next 24? ron allen is on the convention floor with a look ahead. ron, i know we're expecting bill clinton. >> exactly. he'll be here tonight, and he's going to give a great speech i'm sure by any standard. so there's no big surprise in all that. president obama will give another great speech tomorrow nig night, too. how is this playing out in the real world, in the swing district in ohio? is it really moving the needle

for the democrats because nothing that's happened at this convention has been not foreseen. we know the democrats know how to put on a big party. and an exciting party. there was a tremendous excitement here last night, and there will be more of that tonight. we're expecting that president clinton might actually be here on the stage. that's what i was looking for now, but as you can see they're presenting the colors. that is the big question. how is this playing out there in the real world. >> as the color guard moves in, we'll move out. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow on the show, valerie jarrett, beau biden, senator barbara boxer, former seminar tom daschle and actress ashley judd. my colleague tamron hall has a look what's next on "news natio nation". >> president obama will arrive in charlotte in the next hour. the latest on the breaking news regarding the change ren knew for the president's big speech and we perhaps will have our first video of the president touching down coming up.

what are they saying, the democrats about the weather and why one senior visor is furious over the rumors that the venue was changed because of empty seats. plus both sides are agreeing, she delivered. plus, what the president said to his wife right after her speech. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit.

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